Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez is declared guilty on most counts at his trial at Hartford Superior Court June 18, 2010. At left are his attorneys Hubert Santos and Hope Seeley; Seeley is now a Superior Court judge.

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez is declared guilty on most counts at his trial at Hartford Superior Court June 18, 2010. At left are his attorneys Hubert Santos and Hope Seeley; Seeley is now a Superior Court judge. (MICHAEL MCANDREWS, HARTFORD COURANT)

On April 12, 2010, the first day of jury selection, Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez enters Hartford Superior Court with his wife, Maria, and attorneys Hubert Santos (at left in background) and Hope Seeley. (Seeley is now a Superior Court judge.) Perez' trial on bribery and larceny charges began...

On April 12, 2010, the first day of jury selection, Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez enters Hartford Superior Court with his wife, Maria, and attorneys Hubert Santos (at left in background) and Hope Seeley. (Seeley is now a Superior Court judge.) Perez' trial on bribery and larceny charges began... (PATRICK RAYCRAFT / HARTFORD COURANT)

Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez, center, enters Hartford Superior Court with his wife, Maria, left, and attorney Hope C. Seeley on the first day of jury selection for the mayor's corruption trial. (Seeley is now a Superior Court judge.)

On the first day of jury selection, Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez enters Hartford Superior Court with his wife, Maria, and attorneys Hubert Santos (at left in background) and Hope Seeley on April 12, 2010. At least one juror had been selected for Perez' trial, which began May 12, 2010.

On the first day of jury selection, Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez enters Hartford Superior Court with his wife, Maria, and attorneys Hubert Santos (at left in background) and Hope Seeley on April 12, 2010. At least one juror had been selected for Perez' trial, which began May 12, 2010. (PATRICK RAYCRAFT / HARTFORD COURANT)

Perez and his attorney, Hubert J. Santos, said Monday that they believe the charges are related to $20,000 in kitchen and bathroom renovations done on the Hartford mayor's home by contractor Carlos Costa.

Costa, who has done millions in work for the city, was arrested by state police Monday, said his lawyer, William Gerace. He was charged with two counts of bribery, and one count each of fabricating evidence and the conspiracy to fabricate evidence, Gerace said.

Perez was to be charged with bribery, fabricating evidence, and conspiring to fabricate evidence, Santos said.

In an interview Monday at Santos' office, a subdued Perez apologized to the voters who elected him in 2001 and twice re-elected him under a strong-mayor charter that he championed.

Perez, 51, a former community organizer who is the city's first Latino mayor, called hiring Costa a "lapse in judgment," reiterating comments he made more than a year ago about the episode.

"There is no excuse for it. I apologize for putting my family and my city under this situation," Perez said. But he added, "At the end of the day, a lapse in judgment is not a crime."

Perez said he has no plan to resign or temporarily step down while he faces the charges brought by the chief state's attorney's office in Superior Court. Santos said he did not know whether more charges were forthcoming.

State criminal investigators have been interested in Perez since early 2007, when news first surfaced about a controversial, no-bid parking lot deal the city gave to former state Rep. Abraham L. Giles. In October 2007, their interest was formalized with the formation of a state investigatory grand jury — a secretive court body led by one judge and with the power of subpoena.

That grand jury has since seen two extensions and is set to expire in April. But while the investigators' interest is known to have expanded well beyond the work done on Perez's home, it's that work that has landed him in legal jeopardy.

State criminal investigators searched Perez's home on a mid-August day in 2007. Two days later, on Aug. 16, Perez admitted that he had hired a city contractor to do what he said was $20,000 in kitchen and bathroom renovations. The work was done without proper permits and some of the work was done by an unlicensed contractor.

Costa completed most of the work in 2006, and Perez said he looked into a mortgage to pay for the work in 2006. But it wasn't until early 2007 that Costa billed him $20,217, Perez said. He said he paid Costa in July 2007 — after investigators had begun asking questions.

Former Hartford Mayor Eddie A. Perez's house in the city's West End -- which was at the center of his corruption conviction -- was sold in June 2012, after being on the market for more than a year. The five-bedroom house at 59 Bloomfield Ave. was sold for $287,500, according to city records,...

A divided state Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a new trial in the controversial murder case against Richard Lapointe, concluding that the mentally disabled dishwasher was denied evidence supporting his innocence when he was tried and convicted a quarter century ago for the rape and murder...